Earn 2.5% expected annual profit overnight

Introducing Alaan Treasury

Your cash is asleep for nineteen hours a day. We put it to work for the other five.

Idle balances can now be invested every night at an expected profit rate of 2.5% a year while remaining fully available every hour your business is open.

Most business current accounts, in the UAE and elsewhere, don't pay profit on the balances held in them. They're designed for moving money around, paying people and receiving payments, rather than for earning a return on it.

The usual way to earn on surplus cash has been a fixed deposit, where money is placed for 30, 60 or 90 days. That works well for cash you won't need for a while. For a finance team running payroll, paying suppliers and funding card spend, locking operating cash away isn't always practical, so a lot of it stays in the current account.

Today we are launching Alaan Treasury*, powered by ruya: It allows your idle balance to be invested overnight at an expected profit rate of 2.5% a year.

Now, your business has another option. You give standing consent once, and each night at 11:30 pm, your eligible balance is placed into overnight Wakala with ruya, which has an expected profit rate set when it's created, which is currently 2.5% a year.

How the overnight placement works

Your funds are unavailable from 11:30 pm until the Wakala matures and end-of-day and beginning-of-day processing is complete - usually around 4:00 am.

Each night at 11:30 pm, Alaan Treasury creates a new overnight Wakala with ruya using your eligible balance. Your current-account balance doesn't earn profit itself. Any profit comes from that night's Wakala placement. When the placement matures, the principal and any profit are credited back to your current account, held in your company's name, where the funds are available to spend, transfer or pay out until the next night's cut-off.

You do not choose a term. You do not schedule a transfer. You do not decide each evening whether tonight is the night. You give consent once, and from then on every night takes care of itself.

And because each night we assist you in placing your principal plus the profit you earned, plus anything you added during the day, minus anything you spent, your returns compound daily. You are not earning on a static snapshot from the day you signed up. You are earning on whatever your business actually has, every night.

What this replaces

For many UAE businesses, managing surplus cash is a manual job. Someone in finance watches the balance, asks for approval to move money into a fixed deposit, and picks a tenor based on a cash flow forecast. If a payment comes up earlier than expected, breaking the deposit can mean giving up some or all of the profit.

Alaan Treasury assists you in taking most of those steps out.

• No tenor to choose. Every placement is for one night.
• No long lock-in. Funds from each placement are credited back once it matures and overnight processing is complete.
• No minimum balance to maintain. The minimum placement is AED 5,000.
• No approval for each placement. One standing consent covers them, and you can change or cancel it before any night's cut-off.
• Less manual reconciliation. Profit credited to your account flows into your books through the accounting integration you already use.

You set it up once, and can review or change the settings whenever you need to.

Built on ruya's Shariah-approved Wakala structure

Alaan Treasury uses an overnight Wakala offered by ruya, an Islamic bank regulated by the Central Bank of the UAE. The Wakala structure is approved by ruya's Internal Shariah Supervision Committee. Alaan does not make its own Shariah determination, and the product and how we describe it remain subject to that approved structure.

Under a Wakala, ruya acts as your agent and invests the placed funds on your behalf. It quotes an expected profit rate when each placement is created. That rate is an expectation rather than a guarantee, and the actual profit may differ. For businesses that prefer Shariah-compliant products, it offers an overnight option that fits that preference.

What you should know before you turn it on

Funds are unavailable from 11:30 pm until the Wakala matures and ruya's end-of-day and beginning-of-day processing is complete. This is usually around 4:00 am, but it may be later if bank processing is delayed. If you have payments that may run overnight, plan around this window or lower your eligible balance.

Each placement is a separate Wakala and earns the expected profit rate that applies when it's created. Expected profit is not guaranteed, and rates can change from night to night.

Alaan Treasury is optional. You choose the eligible balance for each night's placement, and you can change it or cancel your standing consent at any time before the 11:30 pm cut-off. If you cancel, no further placements are made and your funds stay in your current account.

In case of emergency, you can withdraw your overnight Deposit during the unavailable period of time, at which point the funds will be deposited back into your Current Account and no profit would be earned for that evening.

Getting started

Open Alaan, go to Treasury, set your eligible balance, then review and accept the standing consent and ruya's terms.

Your first placement is made at the next 11:30 pm cut-off. Once it matures and overnight processing is complete, the principal and any profit are credited to your current account.

An overnight option for cash that would otherwise sit idle.

*Alaan Treasury is an optional feature. With your standing consent, eligible funds are placed each night into a new, separate overnight Wakala with ruya, an Islamic bank regulated by the Central Bank of the UAE. Your current-account balance does not itself earn profit. Any profit is earned on each individual Wakala placement. Funds are held in an account in your company's name. Alaan is not a bank and does not hold these funds. Alaan provides the interface through which you give consent and manage your Treasury settings. Expected profit rates are indicative, are set at the time each placement is created, and are not guaranteed. The actual profit may differ from the expected profit rate. Under a Wakala arrangement, returns in excess of the expected profit rate are retained by the bank as its investment incentive as per ruya Wakala deposits terms and conditions. Placements are made at 11:30 pm. Funds are unavailable from 11:30 pm until the placement matures and end-of-day and beginning-of-day processing is complete, which is usually around 4:00 am but may be later where bank processing is delayed. Minimum placement is AED 5,000. The Wakala structure is approved by ruya's Internal Shariah Supervision Committee. Wakala placements are subject to ruya's Wakala deposits terms and conditions. Current expected profit rates are published on the ruya website and app.